Tom King’s CRM Plus --
Ruminations on "cultural resource management," environmental impact assessment, and related esoteric topics, by a curmudgeon who seldom has anything good to say about anything.

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Saturday, May 11, 2013

That "Tribal Relationships" Conference at Harvard

A week or so ago, there
was a posting on Facebook about an upcoming conference on building tribal
relationships, to be held at Harvard University and involving TransCanada,
the outfit that’s behind the Keystone XL Pipeline.The posting noted that no tribes had been invited
to the conference.

I reposted the item,
saying it looked like business as usual.

Today I got an email
from Lou Thompson, Manager of Tribal Relations for TransCanada.He said:

I noticed on Facebook
that you had some concerns about the Think Tank at Harvard. Having worked in
Indian Country for 2 decades I can fully appreciate your concern and passion
for native people. I am aware of some of your work and admire your
contributions. As a point of clarification here is an excerpt from the letter
that Harvard sent me:

In the case at hand,
the upcoming Forum will bring together 25 selectively invited individuals
representing the Harvard research team, federal policymakers, senior managers
and decision makers from relevant sectors including finance, construction, land
and property development, resource extraction, law, and policy. The May Forum
will be followed this summer by a separate Forum for tribal leaders and policy
makers, with the overall process leading to revision and release of the final
White Paper as a useable source of practical approaches for all “sides of the
table”.

So as you can see,
cultural resources are certainly not the main focus of this forum. As you can
also see, there will be a separate forum for tribal leaders. My invitation
stems from the fact that they were searching for a company that has current
substantial collaboration with tribes. For me this is an opportunity to learn
how to better work in harmony with tribes not to present myself as a subject
matter expert. I would enjoy meeting you sometime to discuss all of your
efforts in working in Indian country. Please feel free to contact me should you
ever have concerns about TransCanada’s approach to cultural resource
identification and protection.

So,
Lou, we’re to understand that Harvard cooked up this conference all on its own,
and invited TransCanada?That
TransCanada had nothing to do with setting it up and organizing and funding it?Just got an invite in the mail and said “Oh,
that seems like a nice idea?”Honestly,
give me a break.

And
what does it matter whether “cultural resources” are the session’s focus?Do you think that’s all tribes are concerned
about? If so, your twenty years in Indian Country haven't taught you much. Do you think it's all I'm concerned about? That's more understandable, but it's jumping to a large conclusion that I find rather insulting.

That said, I’m
not personally offended (though many tribes understandably are) by the idea of
holding a conference on tribal relations without tribal participation.When I’ve taught classes on tribal
consultation I’ve often been most comfortable when tribes aren’t represented, because
I can get down to brass tacks with the company and agency representatives.I can acknowledge that what a tribe or tribal
elder says may seem crazy to a white guy, that tribal governments aren’t
necessarily paragons of virtue, and that even Indians can lie.Having thus broken the ice – much harder to
do with tribal people in the room – I can try to get a discussion going on the
practical implications of treating a tribe like its members are nuts,
ill-governed, or crooks, or conversely of choking down one’s suspicions and
treating the tribe with respect.I’ve
found this to be a fruitful pedagogical strategy, and maybe that’s what
Harvard and TransCanada are up to in this case.

Maybe.But even giving them this benefit of the
doubt, how naïve does the University or company have to be to think it makes
sense to put on a confab like this at the very time the president is (ostensibly)
pondering whether to let the pipeline go forward, when the EIS on the project
is being held up as a classic example of crooked science and Obama
administration hypocrisy, and when Idle No More and other groups are
demonstrating at every opportunity?And what
kind of naïf are you to suggest that it’s OK because it’s not about “cultural
resources” and because unspecified “tribal leaders and policy makers” will be
invited in at some later date?If I were
considering an investment in TransCanada or sending a grandchild to Harvard (I’m
considering neither), I would not be encouraged by this example of either
entity’s political acumen.

You
want to meet sometime, Lou?Well, maybe
our paths will cross, but I don’t plan to go out of my way to make them do so.

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Welcome to Tom King's CRM Plus

Welcome to my blog on topics related to "cultural resource management," whatever that may mean to you or me. I hope you find some interest in what you read here, that you'll add your own contributions, and that you'll encourage others to have a look. Thanks!

About Me

Thomas F. King holds a PhD in anthropology from the University of California Riverside (1976), and has worked since the 1960s in the evolving fields of research and management variously referred to as heritage, cultural resource management, and historic preservation. He is particularly known for his work with Section 106 of the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act, and with indigenous and other traditional cultural places.

King is the author and editor of ten textbooks and tradebooks (See http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-F.-King/e/B001IU2RWK/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1353864454&sr=1-2-ent) as well as scores of journal articles, popular articles, and internet offerings on heritage topics.His career includes the conduct of archaeological research in California and the Micronesian islands, management of academy-based and private cultural resource consulting organizations, helping establish government historic preservation systems in the freely associated states of Micronesia, oversight of U.S. government project review for the federal government’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, service as a litigant and expert witness in heritage-related lawsuits, and extensive work as a consultant and educator in heritage-related topics. He is the co-author of the U.S. National Park Service's government-wide guidance on "traditional cultural properties" (TCPs; see http://www.nps.gov/nr/publications/bulletins/pdfs/nrb38.pdf). He occasionally teaches short classes about historic preservation project review, traditional cultural places, and consultation with indigenous groups, and consults and writes as TFKing PhD LLC. Current major clients include several American Indian tribes and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.